I just finished painting my first vehicle and am happy to have gotten it done before the snow starts. I wanted to learn to paint on my truck which needed new paint anyway before I even thought about spraying my classic Ranchero which is in near mint condition....that one will be done in the spring I hope. I made some minor mistakes along the way but feel confident that I will get even better results on the next one. This was a difficult car to spray in that it has a 4" suspension lift and a 2" body so painting the hood and roof was a challenge.

Painting the hood separate on saw horses would have been easier too, but I was too lazy to take it off and wrap the engine and wires.
What I did was sprayed 3 coats of primer, 2 coats of urethane base with a third coat 50-50 mixed with clear before finally adding 5 coats of clear. I did change my mind after the first coat of base and decided to make the truck 2 tone with navy metallic and an off white I liked. Now I cant decide if I like the 2 tone “kinda looks like a cop car” to me but oh well...Im not changing back now. I did have a couple runs which I already repaired and the slightest amount of peel on the white, but I can get some advise from the experts on here when Im ready to sand some more lol. All in all im very pleased with the results and cant wait to do it again.

The picture of the hood has what appears to be dust spots...but it is actually paper dust on top of the dryed paint after I removed all the paper and tape from the windows. Plus my camera doesnt do the paint or color justice

I sprayed in my 11/2 car garage. Removed a bunch of items from it and cleaned as good as I could and sprayed with the floor wet to catch as much settled dust as possible, and even hung some plastic where I could on the ceiling and garage door.

Compressor: I bought a new Craftsman 50 gal upright 175 psi unit which puts out 9 CFM at 90psi. Its a good, quiet and cheap unit (around $550 -600)

Spray gun: I bought and liked the Eastwood Concours gun which comes with all three tips for primer, base and clear. It operates off 4 cfm at 29 psi which is nice for people with smaller compressors. I added a filter and gauge at the gun on top of the ones at the compessor. This gun cleans up easy too which is a big advantage at only $250

Your truck turned out looking good. How long did you have to wait before painting the second color? Readin your post reminds me that I gotta finish my 'stang already before the snow hits. Any last minute advice for another first timer on painting?

Why didn't you make the color change at the upper bodyline? Looks kinda odd being below it.

Hmmm....well I realy wanted to acheive that white wrap around the front and rear and keep the truck as blue as possible. It was a change on a whim and its growing on me as I ad the badges and pin striping.

I am 3/4's finished with the wet sanding....used 1500 and then almost done with 2000. Any advice what brand/grade/polish to use to finish it? All the slight orange peel is gone and its looking mirrorish lol ... im glad I added that extra couple coats of clear

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